Bits and Pieces
by maddie-nee-chan
Summary: After a bad break-up with Natsu, the Celestial Spirit Mage decides to stay over at a friend's place to clear her mind. But what happens when she starts thinking of this person as more than a friend? Rated T. Fluff is guaranteed.
1. Chapter 1

_Ohayou again, minna-san! So I'm back, with a new story, because I had this sudden urge to write some GraLu. So the thing is I ship GraLu, but I also ship NaLu, and I ship both of them equally (which, in case you were wondering, makes my head want to burst because I love them both way too much). However,this one is a GraLu fanfiction, because I find GraLu fanfictions a little more fun to read and write than NaLu fanfictions, but it does not make me love NaLu any less. So there._

_Anyways, I hope you enjoy it! I rarely write romance fanfictions and this is actually my first proper one, so I can only cross my fingers and sincerely hope you like it._

_Also, I don't own Fairy Tail, but I'm pretty sure you can tell, because if I did I wouldn't be sitting here and writing this absolutely wonderful fanfiction right now._

* * *

**Bits and Pieces**

**I**

A furious Lucy walked out of the club, blinking away tears. Straightening her coat, she briskly walked home. She stopped. How could she go home? Going home meant seeing _his_ face again, and that was something she never wanted to do again. She turned around and walked in the other direction. It was pathetic to feel like you weren't loved, but at the same time Lucy was glad she didn't have to be hurt anymore.

Soon enough, she realized she was lost. The dark, moonless sky made it impossible for her to see anything. She cursed. She brought out her phone, only to see that the battery was dead. She leaned against the wall of the nearest building, and let the tears out. _The night couldn't possibly get worse_, she thought to herself. It was bad enough. She thought back to what had transpired at the club not a while back.

_"Where were you?" Lucy asked._

_"Hmm?" Natsu asked, pretending not to hear his girlfriend, and dreamily eating chicken wings. _

_"I asked where you'd been," Lucy repeated. "I mean, I haven't seen you since we arrived here."_

_"Oh, yeah, that," Natsu said, waving his hand as if it didn't matter. "Just went to a few places here and there."_

_"What's that supposed to mean?" Lucy asked, growing suspicious. Natsu never behaved like this, and it surprised Lucy a little. "Natsu, look at me and tell me - where have you been?"_

_At that time, Lisanna approached Natsu. "That was a great time we had today," she smiled shyly at the salmon-haired mage. She then turned to look at Lucy. "Oh, hi, Lucy! How are you?"_

_Lucy stared from Lisanna to Natsu. She then nodded, as if she understood. "Wonderful, Lisanna," she replied, faking a smile at the girl. "You've fallen for the best liar in town." She grabbed her black handbag and got up from her seat._

_"Lucy, wait-"_

_"I honestly don't want to talk to you right now, Natsu," Lucy said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. Before Natsu could say another word, she walked out._

Lucy stared at her hands. How could he do this to her? Why would he do it, anyway? He had promised to love her forever, and he'd said that their love was true...but Lucy was stupid to believe that. Love like that wasn't there in real life, and she had to grow up and realize that. She scolded herself for being so lost in love that she hadn't even thought about reality.

As she stood in the darkness, she noticed a car approaching. She wiped away her tears hastily. The car stopped in front of her. She hid her face. The last thing she needed was a creepy old man feeling sympathetic for her.

"Need a ride?" a voice asked, startling Lucy.

"Gray?" she asked, peering into the car. She could barely see his face in the dark.

"Who else would it be?" Gray asked, and Lucy could feel him grinning.

Lucy suppressed a small smile. She opened the door of the car and entered.

"Take me to your place," she said quietly.

"Are you sure you-"

"I can't go back home," Lucy said, swallowing.

"Okay," Gray said.

They drove in silence. After a few minutes, Gray couldn't take it anymore.

"I heard what happened," he said casually. "Levy called me."

"I see," Lucy murmured.

"I'm sorry about that," Gray said, glancing at Lucy. "If you need me to beat up that moron for you-"

"As much as I'd like that, it's fine," Lucy told Gray without looking at him. "All I want to do now is forget about him."

They reached Gray's apartment. It was large, unlike Lucy's house, but then again Gray was richer than Lucy. He seemed to live a wonderful life, almost perfect. Lucy often wondered what it would be like to be as rich as Gray. At the same time though, she realized that Gray was one of the loneliest people she'd ever met. After Juvia had left him for Lyon, Lucy couldn't understand how he still had the will to fight for his dreams. He must have been heartbroken, but he still believed in himself, and that fascinated Lucy.

He parked the car in the garage, and the two of them got out. Neither of them spoke to each other until Gray had unlocked the door to the house.

"I guess you're going to want to get a good night's rest now, right?" Gray asked.

Lucy could finally see him properly. In a way, he was gorgeous, but she could never like him. Their friendship was special, and she knew that she would totally blow it if she fell for him.

"Yeah, I guess," she said.

"I'll show you to your room, then," Gray said, leading her down the hallway. She followed.

The hallway was a place Lucy always liked looking at when she came to Gray's house. It reminded her of when the four of them had first met: her, Gray, Erza and Natsu. All the pictures were still there, the pictures of Gray and Juvia, Erza and Jellal and even of her and Natsu...they'd all been so in love, ever since high school, but only one of those relationships had actually lasted.

"Have you heard from Erza?" Lucy asked Gray.

Gray shook his head. "But I'm sure she's okay. She's Erza, after all."

Lucy smiled. "I'm glad. I always knew she'd be okay, especially since she has Jellal with her."

Gray glanced at Lucy, and grinned when he saw her smile. "Yeah, me too."

The two of them stopped at the door of a room. "This is one of the guest bedrooms, and I guess you could stay here if you want to."

Lucy looked inside. The whole room seemed to be red. The walls were painted red, the curtains were red, the carpet was red and even the bedsheets were red, but it was still beautiful. The red seemed to bring out exactly what she was feeling: she was extremely angry, but at the same time she still loved Natsu. She couldn't bear to live without him, and just thinking about him brought tears to her eyes.

Gray noticed these tears and immediately tried consoling her. "Hey, don't cry," he said quickly. "I'm sorry if you don't like it, there are other rooms you can stay in."

Lucy laughed a little, sniffing. "It's not like that, I like it. It's perfect. I just...I can't seem to be able to get over him."

Gray stroked her hair. "It's all right. Just sleep it out for now."

Lucy nodded. "All right." She stepped into the room.

"Goodnight, Gray," she whispered, smiling.

"Goodnight, Lucy," Gray replied, waving at her before she shut the door.

She lay down and closed her eyes. "I'll be here for one night," she told herself. "Tomorrow, I can go stay over at Levy's or something."

Little did she know that she would be staying at Gray's for much longer than one night.

* * *

_Eh, don't worry, I don't like the ending to this either. Oh well. Anyway, please review! As always, I accept all forms of criticism, so you are allowed to virtually punch me for messing up anything. But please don't kill me, that's illegal where I live and the last thing I want to do is get you arrested._

_The next chapter will (hopefully, hopefully, hopefully) be up by Sunday or something. Or on Monday, after my exam. And fans of Cherry Blossoms, please wait just a few more days, I'm having serious trouble with writing something that you all will like. But let's see what I can do._

_Happy reading!_

_~maddie-nee-chan_


	2. Chapter 2

_Back, and I believe this is the first time I've updated any of my stories within a week lol. But I guess I was simply happy to see so many favorites and follows and stuff, and gosh you guys are amazing for that, I really appreciate it._

_Also, I'm sorry if it's a little late, but you know, exams. -_- __Anyways, this is chapter 2, and I hope you like it. Enjoy!_

* * *

**Bits and Pieces**

**II**

"Natsu.." Lucy mumbled wistfully.

"Actually, it's Gray, and if you just slept over at my place without knowing my name, that's seriously unexpected from you," a voice replied.

_Wait_, thought Lucy, _that's not Natsu's voice._ Her eyes snapped open, and the first thing she saw was Gray's face. "Oh, it's you," she groaned.

"Good morning to you, too," Gray said, pulling the curtains apart and pushing the windows open to let some sunlight enter the room. "It's a bright, lovely morning, isn't it? A perfect day to get out of bed and enjoy the weather."

"It's not such an amazing morning for me, you know," Lucy said bitterly.

Gray turned to look at the blonde. Her hair was a tangled mess, her lips were red and swollen proving that she'd been biting them non-stop, and he could tell that she'd cried herself to sleep just by taking one look at her tired eyes.

"I know, I'm sorry," Gray said apologetically. "I'm just running late for work, and I have no right to take that out on you. I seriously don't mean to be so insensitive."

"That's okay," Lucy said, smiling. "I don't think you're being insensitive. I honestly have no reason to be upset, anyway. I mean, _I_ broke up with him, right? He should be the one upset, not me."

"That's the spirit," Gray grinned. "All right, I think I should be heading out now. You don't mind staying at home alone, do you? I mean you've been here a bunch of times, so I hope you don't mind."

Lucy shook her head. "Not at all."

"Cool," Gray said, a little relieved. "Okay, so I'll just leave the house to you. If you need anything, call me. And try not to break anything while I'm gone, okay?"

Lucy knew it was a joke, but she still raised her eyebrows, giving Gray a look that said, 'You really expect me to do anything like that?' Gray laughed and walked out. "Take care!"

Lucy heard the door slam. She sighed and lay down.

"Right," she told herself. "Time to start the day."

She got out of bed, and after freshening herself up, the first thing she did was call Levy. She knew that Levy would be worried, and she needed to let her know that everything was okay.

The phone rung a few times before switching to voice mail. _"Hey, you've reached Levy, please leave a message!"_ said a bubbly voice, which was followed by a beeping sound. "Hey, Levy, it's Lucy," Lucy said, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. "I'm at Gray's now, and don't worry about me, because I'm fine. Call me as soon as you can, okay? Bye."

She sighed, hanging up. She went to the kitchen to see if there was any food that she could cook and eat. She wasn't amazing at cooking, but she could cook breakfast, thanks to Natsu.

_Natsu. _She had known him for a long, long time, and it still made no sense. Why would he treat her like that? He kept telling her how much he loved her, how much he cared, and how he'd never break her heart. So why did he? Why did he knowingly hurt her?

Lucy never thought of Lisanna as competition. Lisanna and her were close friends, and she knew that Lisanna and Natsu has history, but that didn't give Lisanna any reason to try to steal Natsu from Lucy. "I guess I underestimated her," Lucy muttered as she brought an egg out of the cupboard.

She pulled a pan out from one of the drawers and cracked the egg into the pan. She gently cooked the egg to make an omelette. Meanwhile, she kept thinking about where she was going to stay after leaving Gray's house. She'd sold her own house after moving in with Natsu a year ago, and she now regretted it more than anything. She wouldn't have, of course, done this if she had known. But who could've known? After all, she didn't know anyone who could tell her the future.

Maybe I should try staying at Levy's? she thought. She then remembered that Levy hadn't answered her call that morning. Lucy decided that it was a good idea to pay her a visit. She then thought about staying at Mirajane's, and realized it wasn't a bad idea. She took the omelette off the pan and placed it on a plate. In less than a minute, the omelette that she'd made with three eggs disappeared from the plate and into her stomach. She then grabbed her phone, texted Gray to tell him that she was going to Levy's and that she had the extra house keys, and sprinted out of the house, locking the door behind her.

Levy's house wasn't far from Gray's house—it only took fifteen minutes to walk there. She set off towards the house. As she walked alone, she realized how many times she'd walked the same path, except Natsu had always been beside her, holding her hand. She shook her head, trying not to think of Natsu. Instead, she admired the beautiful, scented cherry blossom trees that lined the street. It reminded her of the time Natsu had brought her an entire rainbow _sakura _tree just because she'd been unwell. When she thought of this, instead of making her feel upset again, it pleased her to remember how he'd once cared for her that much. How he was willing to do anything just to make her happy. Lucy shook her head. He didn't love her anymore, and she knew that. She also knew that it was time to move on._  
_

She was so lost in her thoughts, she almost walked past Levy's house. Luckily, she saw it and walked up the path that led to the house.

The first thing she noticed was the pile of newspapers that had gathered on the porch. The second thing was that the car had disappeared. Lucy walked up to the door and looked under the 'Welcome' mat, because she knew that Levy often kept her house keys under the mat. Unfortunately, the keys were nowhere to be found. Instead, Lucy found a folded sheet of paper. On top of the folded paper, she saw the words 'To Lucy' imprinted, and upon unfolding the sheet, found a letter addressed to her.

_To Lu-chan,_

_I'm at the Spring Carnival with Gajeel. I'm really sorry for not being at home and with you, but Gajeel and I haven't done anything together in a really long time. I swear I'll be back as soon as possible, though. And I might not pick up my phone either, but I'll talk to you first thing when I get back.  
__I'm especially upset about the fact that I'm not here now, especially after what happened at the club. I'm always there to talk to you about it, though. But only if you want to.  
__I'll see you as soon as I return!_

_Love,  
__Levy_ （＾ω＾）_  
_

Lucy smiled. Levy's little drawings always made her smile. She sighed. If Levy wasn't home, her only hope was Mirajane. Mirajane lived in the same region as Levy, only three houses away from Levy's house.

Unfortunately, upon reaching Mirajane's house, she realized it was hopeless, as Mirajane wasn't home either. Lucy's heart sank. Mirajane was the only person she could stay with, considering Levy wasn't at home, and Erza had moved to live with Jellal almost a year ago.

She returned home, silently wondering where she could stay. She couldn't stay at Gray's house for long. He had broken up with Juvia a while ago, but Lucy could tell that he was still hurt and upset, and he still hadn't gotten over her. At this point, she knew exactly how he felt, and how he'd felt ever since his break up with Juvia, and Lucy couldn't help but feel like he was going through so much, and she was just being a burden. But what other choice did she have?

She sighed. She didn't mind staying with Gray, but it seemed a little weird to stay at a guy's house right after breaking up with someone. _But...it doesn't matter, does it?_ she wondered. _We're friends, after all._

And Lucy couldn't imagine it ever being anything other than that.

* * *

When Gray returned that evening, the first thing he saw was Lucy standing by the kitchen doorway. She was twiddling her thumbs and staring at them, and Gray could tell that she was nervous about something. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Lucy didn't look up immediately. She didn't want to ask him. She needed somewhere to stay, but for some reason, staying at Gray's place made her nervous, and made her feel so selfish for some reason. But she had to. She had no choice. And if he said no...well, there was always the option of staying at a hotel, which is an option she didn't want to think of.

"I...I need to stay at your house for some more time," Lucy said hesitantly. "I really hope you don't mind. It's just that Levy's not in town, and neither is Mira, and I mean I could stay at a hotel but it's so lonely, so can I please stay here? Just for time, I swear I'll leave soon."

Gray stared at her with a look of disbelief on his face. He searched Lucy's face, and after noticing that she was serious, he tried his best not to burst into laughter. "Gosh, Lucy," he said, stifling a chuckle. "When I allowed you to stay here, I didn't mean that you have to go away the next day, for god's sake. And I thought you were smart." He shook his head.

Lucy looked up from her thumbs. "But I...seriously?" she asked.

Gray laughed. "Yeah. What made you think otherwise?"

Lucy looked away, embarrassed. "I just...I thought that maybe you wouldn't want to keep me here," she said. "Like maybe I'm just increasing your work, and being a burden...I really don't want to be like that."

Gray rolled his eyes. "Why would you be a burden?" he asked. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Had Lucy just suggested that? "Lucy, you're one of my best friends. Actually, at the moment, you're my _only_ friend. And friends aren't burdens. I enjoy helping you, and you should enjoy yourself."

Lucy smiled. "Thanks, Gray," she said gratefully. "I'm really glad you're doing this for me."

"Why not?" Gray asked. "It's what true friends do."

Lucy couldn't help herself. She ran up and hugged Gray. She didn't know what she was doing. She just needed to hug someone: a friend, a person she trusted. "You're a true friend," she said.

Gray stood there, taken aback by the suddenness of the hug. After a while, however, he found himself hugging her back.

"You too."

* * *

_Yeah, pretty useless chapter, I know. Well, I'll see when I can publish the next one. Here's to a good fanfiction and hopefully good marks in the exams as well. Anyways, hope you liked it, favorite, follow, review, do whatever you want to. As usual, I'd love it if you screamed at me, the screamers are the best. But I hope you won't have to._

_So yeah, happy reading!_

_~maddie-nee-chan_


	3. Chapter 3

She'd spent nearly two weeks already at Gray's house, and she was actually getting used to it: being woken up by Gray at 7 every morning, going to work, taking a short walk, and returning every day by 9 in the evening (for certain unknown reasons, this was what Gray wanted, and since Lucy had to stay at Gray's, she had no choice but to follow the rules like an obedient child).

Usually, the mornings were really loud. Gray often listened to these old songs early in the morning, and Lucy wasn't sure whether he genuinely wanted to listen to them or whether it was just one of his methods of getting her up. Either way, it was extremely irritating, and if he intended to wake her up, he always succeeded. Lucy would roll out of bed, groan, and start her day as usual.

Strangely, this morning, no music could be heard. Lucy pulled the blankets over her head, waiting patiently for the sound of a guitar and that high-pitched voice, but nothing came. It was silent, perhaps, a little too silent.

She poked her head out from under the sheets, half-expecting Gray to pop out from behind the curtains and startle her, but when that didn't happen, she raised her eyebrows. Her waking up before Gray was a rare occurrence. It was, in fact, so rare, that Lucy found it almost impossible to wake up earlier than Gray. He hadn't been this punctual earlier. To say the truth, he'd always been the least punctual. It always seemed like he didn't care about time at all. But somehow, something had changed in him, that had made him care more about things in general; about people, time, his belongings, work. Lucy could see it, and a part of her appreciated it. The other part just wanted to kill Gray for waking up so early and playing those annoying songs.

She crept out of bed. Silently tiptoeing across the room, she made her way to Gray's room to check on him. She felt this strange sort of excitement as she knocked on the door. "Gray?"

No reply.

She knocked harder and faster. "Gray? You in there?" She asked, louder.

"Huheh?" she heard a sleepy Gray reply.

"It's Lucy," she called.

"Ahh, Lucy," she heard him say. So he can talk, she thought, stifling a laugh at the sound of the exhausted boy's voice. "Can you not come in?"

"Uh, sure?" she said, frowning. It was a strange question, but Lucy decided not to ask any more questions. "I'll just go make some breakfast, or something."

"Yeah, you do that."

Lucy walked into the kitchen. "Time for pancakes," she said, already feeling excited. She brought out the pancake mix from the cupboard nearby, and started cooking the pancakes. After finishing, she placed them on two different plates, with a drizzle of maple syrup on top. It looked delicious. Lucy wasn't particularly fond of cooking, and wasn't really great at it, but when she _did _do something right, she always felt proud of herself.

She took one of the plates and walked to Gray's room. Unfortunately, this time, she forgot to knock and walked in right away. That was probably one of the stupidest things she'd ever done.

"Oh my," she said, raising her eyebrows. She was confused, repulsed and amused at the same time by what she saw. _I'm going to be scarred for life_, she thought. There lay Gray, in an absolute tangle of bedsheets. He looked like a complete mess; his hair stuck up in all kinds of different angles. Besides that, he was naked. It wasn't a bad sight, but it certainly was pretty awkward for Lucy, especially considering the fact that there was a girl lying right next to him. She had ginger hair and was, like Gray, quite naked.

"Didn't I tell you not to come in?" Gray growled, frantically pulling the blankets closer to him and the girl. He was trying to stay mad, but it was difficult. At the moment, he was too embarrassed to be angry with Lucy.

"I sincerely apologize, it'll never happen again" Lucy said, smirking just a bit. She walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Once she'd shut the door, she said, "The pancakes are on the dining table, eat them whenever you have time!"

"Yeah, leave them there and DON'T come back, under any circumstances," he responded. _That's it?_ he wondered. _No weird conversations or anything?_ He didn't really understand why there should be a weird conversation..it wasn't like they liked each other or anything. He shook his head. It didn't matter. All that mattered right now was getting up, getting dressed, waking up Dina and eating those wonderful pancakes.

He got up, and shaking his head again, he walked into the bathroom.

* * *

"I'll see you later at work, then?" the ginger asked, smiling brightly at Gray.

"Yeah, sure," Gray smiled. The ginger then got up, pecked Gray on the lips, waved once and walked out the house.

Lucy was really amused by this entire situation, but at the same time, the girl really irritated her, which was strange, because she could tolerate most people, but she simply couldn't tolerate the girl. She didn't understand why, because she was no different from the others. She casually sipped her coffee and looked pointedly at Gray.

"What?" he asked, looking at Lucy irritably.

"Who's she again?" Lucy asked.

"Just a colleague," Gray muttered, shrugging.

"Really?" Lucy asked, taking another sip of coffee. "Could you remind me what your job is?"

Gray sent Lucy a look, which she responded to with, "I'm just saying, you looked much closer than simply colleagues to me."

"There's nothing special about her," a Gray mumbled in response.

Lucy sighed. "I didn't expect you to be that kind of guy."

"You don't know me," Gray said, raising his voice.

This sudden remark caught Lucy by surprise, but she didn't say anything. Her curiosity was somehow aroused, but she didn't want to ask him anything. It would be impolite, especially after she'd said all those things. She just looked away, ashamed, and continued drinking her coffee in silence.

"I think I'll head out for work now," Gray said, getting up. Lucy didn't reply. As he picked up his bag and made his way out, he turned around one last time. "And before you start lecturing me on work, I think you've forgotten that you have a job too."

"Gray, I—"

_Slam._

Lucy winced. She honestly didn't know Gray, did she? She'd always though that she knew him, but perhaps he was too complicated for her to understand, and maybe she would never understand him. Why didn't she understand him? He'd been through a lot, but hadn't she been through the same thing? Was it just because she healed quicker than him? Or was there something else about him that she didn't understand?

She wanted to understand him. She wanted to understand his feelings, she wanted him to let her in. All she wanted to do was to collect the broken pieces of his soul and put them back in place. That was all.

She sighed, running her fingers through her hair. Perhaps he was indeed a difficult person. But she would figure him out, no matter what happened and no matter how long it took.

* * *

_I hate myself for posting this chapter so late. I've just been so distracted by life, that I really haven't had time for writing. Does that make me a bad person? Yes, it does. Not the point._

_I truly am sorry though. Please forgive me. And you should forgive me more for keeping you waiting for so long and then coming up with this crappy chapter. You may not want to though. Understandable. _

_I shall update Cherry Blossoms verrrry soon, and I promise this, because sometimes keeping promises makes me more determined to complete the task. _

_Also, last but not least, do your whole following and favoriting thing, and please review too! I like reviews. They encourage me to write. And honestly, at this moment, encouragement is extremely necessary for me. And yes, of course, I appreciate them loads more if you scream at me about the mistakes I made in this. Love that. So, thanks, and enjoy!_


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